Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The plan illustrates a comparison of a college cafe between its predesigned and post designed structures.
Overall, cafe experienced a very significant changes in its structure.In addition, a lot of advancements has been done after renovation. Old cafe was far behind than new on in terms of structure.
Firstly, there has been a lot of additions. Salad bar is being constructed in front of recycling bins. An introduction of a recyle bin is also a new thing.Table and chairs section has been renovated all over. A section for take away food and coffee bar is also being added in new cafe.There's also a barbecue section newly introduced in the empty space outside the hall.
Moreover, There are alot of changes been done to the aleady built things as well. All food and drinks were being served from one area in the older cafe but now there are seperate sections for food and drinks.Even there are also segregation in drinks serving as well in new cafe. New cafe has a recylebin. In contrast, old cafe just has a bin no ecycline facility was there.There was no outer seating in old cafe but a proper outer seating is intoduced alongwith barbecue option as well. New cafe is built with repect of the needs of today's world and have almost every top notch facility
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student attempts to summarise the main changes between the two college cafe plans, noting key additions such as the salad bar, outdoor seating, barbecue area, and the division of the old serving area into separate food and drink stations. However, the response suffers from a lack of clear overview of the main trends. Furthermore, the tone is overly subjective and conversational (e.g., calling the new cafe 'top notch' and stating it is built 'with respect of the needs of today's world'), which is inappropriate for an Academic Task 1 report. Key spatial relationships are sometimes imprecise. This performance aligns best with Band 5.5 to 6.0, fitting most closely into Band 6.0 for identifying the main features despite some under-developed analysis and informal tone.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The text is organized into paragraphs, beginning with an introductory sentence, followed by an overall statement, and then body paragraphs detailing additions and alterations. However, paragraphing is irregular, with single-sentence paragraphs like 'Overall, cafe experienced a very significant changes in its structure.In addition...' that disrupt the logical flow. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or repetitive (e.g., 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'In contrast'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun use and missing articles (e.g., 'cafe experienced'). While there is a discernible overall arrangement, the faulty cohesion and mechanical transitions prevent the response from reaching a higher band. This represents Band 5.5, rounded to 6.0 for overall comprehensibility.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student attempts some less common vocabulary relevant to the visual data, such as 'redesigned', 'renovated', 'segregation', and 'recyling bin'. However, there are numerous lexical errors, incorrect word forms, and spelling mistakes throughout the text (e.g., 'predesigned', 'recyle', 'aleady', 'seperate', 'repect', 'outdoor' written as 'outer'). Collocations are sometimes awkward, such as 'advancements has been done' or 'top notch facility'. The vocabulary range is adequate to convey the basic message, but the high frequency of word-form and spelling errors pulls the score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including passive constructions like 'Salad bar is being constructed' and 'are being served'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in verb tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and missing articles (e.g., 'Overall, cafe experienced', 'a lot of advancements has been done', 'old cafe was far behind than new on', 'no ecycline facility was there'). Punctuation errors, such as missing spaces after periods, also detract from the quality. Because errors occur frequently and sometimes cause minor distraction for the reader, this performance merits a Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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